Brief round table introductions were
undertaken. The Chair set out the purpose of the review. He
explained that he had visited York and met with the City
Council’s Deputy Leader, as mentioned at the previous
meeting, and that he would provide an update in due course to the
Review Group.

Tony Joyce, Oxford Civic Society, said that
more needed to be done to manage issues such as coach congestion
and overcrowding. There had been a lot of criticism in recent years
about the bureaucracy surrounding the matter. One such example of
challenges included the lack of coach drop off spaces near
Christchurch College’s new visitor centre. In the short term,
a permanent traffic warden was needed in St Giles to manage
coaches, and significant improvements were needed to city centre
toilets. This view was echoed by other guests.

Phil Southall, Managing Director of Oxford Bus
Company, said the value brought to the City by coaches was
significant, and that he was disappointed with the Council’s
decision to phase out funding to Experience Oxfordshire over three
years. This view was also expressed by Mike Naworynsky OBE, Chair
of Conference Oxford. There was a question of how their funding
would be picked up by other organisations, and the impact the
reduction would have. Phil said that there was little revenue
funding available for reinvestment back into tourism management. He
also commented that comments made at the previous meeting
concerning reviewing the use of the Gloucester Green site did not
involve the views of experts in the industry.

Tourism Tax and
Capturing Value

The Chair invited the meeting to put forward
their views on the use of a tourism tax on bed spaces or coaches
for example. A straw poll on the issue presented mixed views on its
introduction. Mike Naworynsky explained that during the summer, the
university colleges had approximately 7,000 rooms which were used
mostly for academic purposes. He said that it would not be
appropriate to introduce a tourism tax for those visiting for
academic reasons, and gave the example of a travelling academic
having to pay taxes every night at various destinations, if it were
to be introduced nationally. He said the income generated helped to
bridge the funding gap that the university was experiencing due to
stagnant student fees. This income also helped the university to
meets its academic and facility aspirations.

He said however that it was important to keep
the pound in Oxford, and that generating revenue from visitors was
important for tourism to be sustainable. There were strong cases
for a levy, but this would need to be weighed against the
possibility of it dissuading people from coming to the City.
Responding to comments, he said that approximately 30 colleges were
open to the public at certain times, 20 of which were free, and the
others asking a nominal charge, with the exception of
Christchurch.

Dr Rebecca Hawkins, Managing Director of the
Responsible Hospitality Partnership, said it was important to look
at the visitor economy as a whole, and identify where the greatest
net benefit for the City was. For example, overnight visitors,
which principally return much higher value than day visitors for
local businesses. The Chair noted that visitor satisfaction and
loyalty to Oxford were much lower than should be expected.

The Scrutiny Officer explained that a visit to
meet with Cambridge Council and VisitCambridge would likely take place on 9 or 10
April, and members were encouraged to keep dates available is
possible. More information would follow when final arrangements
were agreed.